Bead Dreams - what the heck...

I figured - what do I have to lose? 30 bucks for two entries? So what, I just sold couple of kits and can afford it!

So, I have entered the Bead Dreams for the first time. Have low ambitions and no expectations, but why not to try, really?

Here is my Laplandia, the first of the Land of the Midnight Sun.

I am seriously addicted to labradorites and all its family - larvikite, spectrolite, etc. Being a scientist, it is difficult to start believing in stone-healing-mumbo-jumbo, but this particular stone is certainly a magic one. At least for me. It makes me calmer, more pieceful and stronger inside. That's why I did not want to embroider those cabs: they are open from behind and are touching the skin.

I wanted to bead the Nordic nature: mosses that reindeer are grazing on, aurora borealis, colors of small lakes among marshes, mist covering the ground and the ever changing skies.

This necklace is very special to me. It took four months to complete, and three of those I was gathering the material. Stones are coming from India, Canada, Finland, Norway and Madagaskar. They were lovingly carved by Russian, Chinese, Indian and Hong Kong lapidarists.
Tiny Swarovki crystalls are shining like small droplets of dew. Even if I will never make it to the finals, I will always love it.

The pictures have been kindly taken by a professional photographer, Dan Pettersson (not a relative of mine) ;). He managed to show the true color of the stones. Please look at the series of four pictures below, and follow the color changes depending on the position of the light source. Note though - we share a copyright, please respect that and do not reproduce the pictures without our permission.


And, finally - this is how it looks like in real life. The neck is borrowed from a fellow beader :)

Wishing BEST OF LUCK to everyone who has entered this year!